Be Grateful....

[PassportToSpeed]

Every time I think of buying a V1 as a 2nd detector I go over to the V1 forum and read all about how it doesnt pick up this or that and about the many many revisions. Bel and Escort have their problems too, but it doesnt seem as rampant as valentine. I still cant figure out why they cant get their revision right. They brought out a V1 with Ku/Pop/ better Laser a while ago and they're still doing revisions. At least the X50 in the year and half that its been out has only had one revision. I have a side of me that wants the arrows, but I also dont want to get a ticket one day because the thing is in its calibration mode that I dont know about and doesnt alert to K or Ka band. IF V1 ever gets it right I'll buy one and eat my own words if its better than the belscorts. Side note: Bigeasyguy has a sticky on the rear detection of the V1 vs the other detectors, but its only like 2000' dif. for bel and 4000' for the OLD 8500, yet in the comments says 2 miles better than any other detector. Hmm last time I checked 2000' doesnt equal 2 miles! Also how come V1 owners loves to bring up old tests like they were the bible?

This was the sticky:


The Valentine One has won every rear radar detection test that has been done, the last one was in the year 2000. Radartest.com hates the V1 and this is what they said about the V1's rear radar detection, "We found it gave anywhere from two to three times the detection range of the other units." According to these tests, the V1 beats every radar detector by at least 2 miles in rear Ka band detection



http://img65.imageshack.us/img65/868/radartest7rear4ii.jpg

[f_399]

ok

[stalker]

here comes the can of worms again ;)

[boomerman]

At least Valentine is always trying to improve their models and yet sometimes as they try improvements they break things along the way.
As far as escort and Bel not providing updates maybe it is because they do not feel that it is necessary to constantly improve their products.
Some will say they got it right the first time other will say they do not care about doing improvements because they already got their money from the consumer.

How many Escorts and Bel's are we seeing lately on the board that are erroring out? I do not see where Bel or Escort is even trying to resolve these issues.
Remember Bel and Escort advertise software updates and they never appeared so I would have to say that escort and Bel deceived their cutomers.
So does that mean you have no problems dealing with a company that deceives their customer?
At least Valentine does provide software updates/upgrades as promised.

[happya$$]

There is NO DOUBT that the fallout on Belescorts is higher than VR's. VR's problems are software related but Belescorts are hardware related. So dont throw stones at the other house when you have a glass house.

[KnightHawk]

There's no one perfect radar detector out there, but choose the best RD that you feel is better and fits your need. I've tried all top 3 RD's and each has his own weaknessess and strengths. So far, i'm annoyed with the V1 falsing more than the belscorts. Just got back from michigan with a 1400 mi run through kentucky and ohio with just the V1 only. I can only ID about 25% of laser pick up from police cruiser along I-75 between cincinatti and toledo ohio and 75% of it can't be ID'd. Laser sensitivity with the V1 is excellent but you also sacrifice more false laser alert. Will you be annoyed? That's your personal preference because i do. I know that it's not advisable to use multiple detectors, but using all 3 RD's for 2 weeks just tells me which RD falses more. If the V1 can improve it's ability to filter, it will be my top pick. Most of the issues are more on preference when it comes to having to choose which one to buy and is more subjective in nature. Performance wise other than rear detection, they're the same other than other RD's falses more. Be your own judge and do a thorough test with the top 3 RD's. This forum is a good start to get information and compare it with your findings. You really have to take time to really learn and get acquainted with each radar detector and it's capabilities. When you've done that, you'll know who's telling the truth or just simply bashing out a certain brand. People just simply brag of things they own period. So be objective with your findings. If i only tested one RD at a time, i will never know what i needed to know. I also tested each RD one at a time for at least 2 days with the same route to give me more information about how they perform.

[f_399]

i use V1 3.825 and it is quiet now, maybe almost as good as the X50

[PassportToSpeed]

Boomerman:

yes it is impressive that v1 does try to improve their models, but the radar hardware shouldnt be changing that much without any new threats. why cant V1 get the revision right the first time if they know there is a problem? He's been making the same detector for years! Perhaps a way to make money on all those revisions?

As for the "Belscorts erroring out", I actually would rather have this then to be speeding down the road and not have my V1 alert me at all. This is probably my biggest concern with owning a V1. IF V1 would come out with some sort of error message when it needs service instead of not alerting at all, that would satisfy me.

HappyA$$

I believe both have issues with overheating, again the dif is that the belscorts will let you know when something is not right. I wouldnt go as far as to say that Belscorts have a higher fallout. that could never be known except by maybe the manufacturers.

Azonehits

Interesting post and pretty much on par with what everybody else says on their comparisons. What version V1 are you using? I would find it extremely hard to take a long trip with the V1 if i have to keep hitting my brakes all the time when there is no real threat.

f_399

I've heard that 3.825 is quiet, but I've also heard that it wont alert radar sometimes. That is a big problem.

[KnightHawk]

Azonehits

Interesting post and pretty much on par with what everybody else says on their comparisons. What version V1 are you using? I would find it extremely hard to take a long trip with the V1 if i have to keep hitting my brakes all the time when there is no real threat.



I have the 3.825 got it 07-25-05.

[f_399]

i havent had any problems with it yet, i am suprised actually.

having used an X50 i thought the V1 would be noisy but its alright

i drive fort worth to san antonio a lot and its about as quiet as an x50

the thing is it retains the beeping after you pass the source because of the rear radar

[PassportToSpeed]

well how come Mr Valentine didnt put this graph in on his site from his Car and Driver review that he did so well in? This was from the 2002 review that is on his site. Even against the old 8500 it still falsed a lot more. Oh yeah 2000' still doesnt equal 2 miles.

http://www.caranddriver.com/assets/image/020403163813.gif

[BiGeAsYgUy]

Oh yeah 2000' still doesnt equal 2 miles.]

http://img65.imageshack.us/img65/2937/noname37iq.jpg

Let's examine the rear Ka detection of the 8500 against the V1, looks like a 2 mile difference to me. Ka band is the black line for those that can't read graphs or English. My point was that even the biased Radartest.com showed that the V1 killed all the others in rear radar detection. The X50 with its "50%" better detection than the 8500 will still have its a$$ handed to it in the rear radar detection regardless of what kind of marketing hype Escort displays on its site because it only has one antenna.

[BiGeAsYgUy]

well how come Mr Valentine didnt put this graph in on his site from his Car and Driver review that he did so well in? This was from the 2002 review that is on his site. Even against the old 8500 it still falsed a lot more. Oh yeah 2000' still doesnt equal 2 miles.

http://www.caranddriver.com/assets/image/020403163813.gif

Let's look at the biased Radartest.com's false alarm test. Wow, the V1 gets 1 more false than Escort and it is on X band which I have turned off so I get zero falses.:lol:

http://img65.imageshack.us/img65/3944/radartest50fq.jpg

PassportToSpeed, the V1 picks up more in the city because it has 2 antennas but who speeds in the city when people are everywhere. Just remember, a person with 2 eyes will tell you they see more than a person with one eye.

[KnightHawk]

Let's examine the rear Ka detection of the 8500 against the V1, looks like a 2 mile difference to me. Ka band is the black line for those that can't read graphs or English. My point was that even the biased Radartest.com showed that the V1 killed all the others in rear radar detection. The X50 with its "50%" better detection than the 8500 will still have its a$$ handed to it in the rear radar detection regardless of what kind of marketing hype Escort displays on its site because it only has one antenna.



This is a no brainer and is very obvious when it comes to rear detection range.

[KnightHawk]

PassportToSpeed, the V1 picks up more in the city because it has 2 antennas but who speeds in the city when people are everywhere. Just remember, a person with 2 eyes will tell you they see more than a person with one eye.



There are a lot of published sources out there to know which radar detector falses more and you guys don't have to fight it out V1 is superior or X50 is supeior with false alerts. I know by experience which one falses more when i tested all top 3 and i'll keep it to myself. People always brag of what they have don't they? Magzines have tested these RD's for years and still get the same results with falsing. It's not the how many eyes that can see here but it's what the eye/eyes can see.

[FriscoKid]

A question regarding the rear antenna of the V1..... on a lot of vehicles, especially SUVs, there is a very heavy tint on the rear glass and on the rear passenger windows. On both my SUVs, this tint is darker than any tint on the top portion of the front windshield. Shouldn't the rear tint (and embedded rear defroster wires for that matter) impact the performance of the rear antenna? I mean, we're always told that mounting the radar detector too high is bad cause of the tinting on the top portion of the front windshield.

That said, I wonder what type of vehicle the testers use? Perhaps their vehicles have very little tint in the rear (and maybe no rear defroster) and the test results may not apply to many vehicles that are out there.

Anyways, I was just curious....

8)

[PassportToSpeed]

Well I would think that BigEasy probably has something in his Valentine Folder that shows that the V1's rear detection is still better even through tint. :wink: One thing is for sure though, he loves the V1 about as much as I love the X50. Oh and on that false alarm test, looks like only X band is tested, that is the old 8500. Why keep bringing up tests from the old 8500? News flash: Escort has upgraded the 8500, which is now called the X50. Ok done with the playing now.

I'll let you in on a secret. I like the V1 and might buy one, but only for Hwy use, but I do have concerns about it. As an all around detector, meaning being used in the city and hwy, I think it falls short of the belscorts. I doubt many would argue this. So now its to highway use, but then again with the reports out now of 3.825 not alerting is scary. I would kick myself for trying a v1 on a highway and get a ticket from it because it didnt go off on a real threat.

FriscoKid makes a good point. Most cars do have a heavy tint on the rear window, mine does. So in these cars, both detectors will be looking for reflections. IF the V1 is picking up a reflection from a leo behind, wouldnt it get confused and point the arrows forward? When the real threat is behind? Hmmm I guess other V1 owners can answer that for us that also have a deep tint. I would hope not. I still give the nod to the v1 in rear detection, but if you're on a highway the only time I can see that it would come in use is if a trooper is moving faster than you on the hwy. How many times is this going to happen if you're even 10 mph over much less 15? Let me know of a time when rear detection from 2 miles away is helpful.

Reasons why I would buy a V1:
Hardware/software upgrades
Laser detection (nice to have but not a guarantee)
arrows (would be nice in night hwy driving when I cant see as well)
rear detection (I presume that tint hurts it but in the end its still better)
The right to bash it (just kidding) :lol:

[kpatz]

Most factory tints don't affect radar detection. The only exception is metallic tint, and AFAIK most factory tints aren't metallic.

Tint can have an effect on laser detection, depending on how much IR the tint blocks.

Rear window defrosters don't have dense enough wires to significantly affect radar detection to the rear.

Of course, the real purpose of the V1's rear antenna is to allow the arrows to function. Additional rear sensitivity is just icing on the cake. Also, with Stalker same-lane radar in increased use, rear detection does have a real benefit.